Cosmetic Brush and Method for Manufacturing

ABSTRACT

A cosmetics brush and a method for manufacturing the same. The cosmetics brush includes a rod; a ferrule formed at an end of the rod; a bundle of fibers folded in the middle and inserted in the ferrule; and a fixing piece inserted in the folding of the fiber bundle with both ends engaged with the inner side of the ferrule. The method includes the steps of: feeding raw fiber; cutting the raw fiber; placing the cut raw fiber on a guide; feeding and fixing a rod formed with a ferrule contacting the guide; feeding a fixing piece; inserting the fixing piece with a pushing piece into the middle portion of the fiber bundle to fold and insert the bundle into the ferrule; and cutting and finishing the fibers of the bundle exposed out of the ferrule.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority of Korean Application No.10-2013-0120788 filed Oct. 10, 2013, the disclosure of which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a cosmetics brush and the manufacturingmethod therefore. The method for manufacturing the cosmetic brush inaccordance with the present invention provides a cosmetics brush whichcan apply cosmetics uniformly over a wide area by a bundle of fibersfolded in the middle by a fixing piece that is inserted in the ferruleprovided at the end of a brush handle, in addition to improvedproductivity of the brush.

DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART

A general form of cosmetics brushes used for applying such cosmetics asrouge, lip gloss, mascara, eye liner, and manicure comprises a brushhandle holding a bundle of fibers and a cap at an end of the handle,screw-coupled to a cosmetics container, so that the fiber bundle isstored inside of the cosmetics container for good portability, beingdipped in the cosmetics, and can be used to apply cosmetics adhered tothe bristles by simply detaching the cap.

Since a cosmetics brush of this formation has a bundle of fibers,inserted in an end of the handle, formed in a cylindrical shape, and acap screw-coupled to the cosmetics container, the fiber bundle istwisted in the cosmetics when rotated together with the cap by theresistance of the liquid cosmetics usually having a higher viscosity.Further, if the fiber bundle is formed in a cylindrical shape, it has aweak force of restitution and difficult to return to its proper shapeand apply the cosmetics uniformly, resulting in inconvenience of theuser.

In addition, it is important for making-ups using cosmetics brushes toapply cosmetics at a constant thickness and width, however, the fiberbundles having a cylindrical shape are disadvantageous for applyingcosmetics at a constant thickness and width even though they are nottwisted.

In a cosmetics brush devised to solve the above mentioned problems, afiber bundle is cut and formed into a flat shape and the cut portion isfixed to a brush handle by thermal fusion. However, this type ofcosmetics brush is manufactured by manual processes resulting inrelatively lower productivity and irregularity in the shape due tohigher deviation in the number of the fibers in the bundle.

Further disadvantage includes detachment of the fiber bundle from thehandle while in use.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Technical Object of the Invention

An aspect of the present invention is to improve durability andproductivity of cosmetics brushes by preventing the bristles folded andinserted in the handles from being separated. Another aspect of thepresent invention is to form the bristles in a constant, flat shape byreducing the deviation in the number of the bristles so that the brushescan apply cosmetics by a constant thickness and width.

Means for Achieving the Technical Object

The cosmetics brush A in accordance with the present invention ischaracterized by being comprised of: a rod 10 of the brush A; a ferrule11 provided at an end of the rod 10; a bundle of fibers 20 folded at themiddle and inserted in the ferrule 11; and a fixing piece 30 inserted inthe middle of the folded fiber bundle 20 with both side ends are latchedon the inner side of the ferrule 11.

In addition, the ferrule 11 is characterized by compressing the fiberbundle 20 folded and inserted in the ferrule by being formed with acompressing protrusion 12.

In addition, the rod 10 is engaged with a container cap 40 formed with acoupling guide 41, and the ferrule 11 is provided with a bundleinsertion groove 111 formed from an end towards the inside of theferrule, wherein the bundle insertion groove 111 is characterized bybeing formed in a rectangular shape whose transverse width W is greaterthan the longitudinal width W′.

In addition, the fixing piece 30 is characterized by being formed with alength longer than the transverse with W of the ferrule 11 and inclinedinsertion guides 31 at its both ends.

In addition, the manufacturing method for a cosmetics brush A inaccordance with the present invention is characterized by beingcomprised of the steps of: feeding raw fibers unwound from a roll to acutting device (S100); cutting the raw fibers fed into the cuttingdevice with a cutting blade or blades to form the raw fibers into abundle and place the bundle on a guide (S200); feeding and fixing a rodwith a ferrule near the guide at the middle of the cut raw fibersapproaching the rod fixing portion (S300); feeding a fixing piece to theguide on the side corresponding with the ferrule of the rod (S400);inserting the fixing piece by compressing the fixing piece with apushing member so that the fixing piece folds the bundle of the rawfibers at the middle portion and inserts the bundle into the ferrule ofthe rod (S500); and finishing the raw fibers, when the pushing memberhas returned to its original position, exposed out of the ferrule on therod using a finish cutting device (S600).

In addition, the method for manufacturing a cosmetic brush ischaracterized by being further comprised of a step (S700) ofcompressing, after the finishing step (S600) of the fiber bundle, theferrule 11 by pressure punching so that a portion of the ferrule 11 isformed into a compressing protrusion 12 which compresses the bundle ofraw fibers 20.

In addition, the step S100 of feeding raw fibers is furthercharacterized by employing a plurality of raw fiber rolls, the step S300of feeding and fixing the rod is further characterized by the ferruleprovided at an end of the rod being formed with an injection moldingprocess into a rectangular shape, and the step S400 of feeding thefixing piece is further characterized by the fixing piece being cut froma steel sheet into a pin-shape and formed with inclined insertion guidesat the cut ends.

Effects of the Invention

An aspect of the present invention can improve the productivity ofcosmetic brushes by folding a bundle of raw fibers in the middle andinserting the folded bundle into a ferrule provided at an end of a rod.

In addition, another aspect of the present invention can extend the lifecycle of the cosmetics brushes by preventing the bundle of fibers frombeing separated from the ferrule with the fixing piece inserted in theferrule and the compression protrusion formed inwards with a portion ofthe ferrule.

Still another aspect of the present invention can provide cosmeticbrushes having flat, broadened, rectangular-shaped fiber bundles so thatthe brushes can apply cosmetics uniformly over a wide area.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cosmetics brush in accordance with thepresent invention coupled with a cosmetics container,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of a cosmetics brush in accordance with thepresent invention separated from a cosmetics container,

FIG. 3 is a perspective, bottom view of a cosmetics brush in accordancewith the present invention separated from a cosmetics container,

FIG. 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken from line A-A of FIG.2,

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken from line B-B of FIG.2,

FIG. 6 is a flow chart depicting the process of manufacturing thecosmetics brushes in accordance with the present invention, and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram explaining the process of manufacturingthe cosmetics brushes in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the present invention is described hereinbelow byreferring to the accompanying drawings.

The cosmetics brush A in accordance with the present invention canprevent loss of brush fibers and apply cosmetics uniformly over a widearea. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 5, the cosmetics brush in accordance withthe present invention comprises a rod 10, a ferrule 11 for fibers, afiber bundle 20, and a fixing piece 30. The cosmetics brush is engagedwith a cosmetics container R with screw threads with the rod 10 and thefiber bundle 20 stored inside of the cosmetics container R to improveportability and enable application of cosmetics simply by separating thecontainer cap 40, because the fiber bundle is dipped in and coated withthe cosmetics.

According to the present invention, the rod 10 is formed with a plasticresin by injection molding at a length fit to be stored inside of acosmetics container R and coated with cosmetics in the container. Thehead portion of the rod is wider to be press-fitted inside of thecontainer cap 40 and the lower portion of the rod is provided with theferrule 11 which is formed in integration.

The ferrule 11 maintains the fiber bundle 20 in a spread formation,preferably formed in integration with the rod 10 by injection moldingand with a fiber bundle insertion groove 111 from the tip of the rod 10inwardly by a certain depth.

The fiber bundle insertion groove 111 is formed in a rectangular shapewhose transverse width W is longer than the longitudinal width W′ sothat the shape of the fiber bundle 20 is maintained in a flat, broadform enabling uniform application and reduced consumption of cosmetics.

While the shape of the fiber bundle insertion groove 111 in accordancewith an embodiment of the present invention is a rectangle, the shape isnot limited to a rectangle but also can be a polygonal, a circle, or anyother form as appropriate.

The fiber bundle 20, which is coated with the cosmetics in the cosmeticscontainer R, comprises approximately 1000 filaments of raw fiber 21,maintained in a spread form, made of polyamide and formed with adiameter of between from about 0.05 to 0.09 mm. More preferably, thenumber of the raw fibers 21 should be between from about 980 to 1020.This range of raw fibers provides good adhesive property of cosmetics inliquid status, without separation and excellent result or response inmake-up tests.

The fiber bundle 20 is folded by the fixing piece 30 at its middleportion, inserted in the ferrule 11 and fixed or bound to the ferrule toprevent the fibers from being separated from the bundle.

Referring to FIG. 7, to produce the fiber bundle 20, raw fiber 21 woundon a roll 110 is unwound from the roll, cut at a predetermined length bya cutting blade 220 on the cutting device 210, and bundled in hundredsof filaments. The steel sheet 430 wound on another steel sheet roll 420is unwound and cut by a steel sheet cutting device 440 into fixingpieces 30. A pushing piece 510 pushes the fixing piece to the middleportion of the raw fiber bundle 20 so that the bundle is folded at themiddle and inserted into the ferrule 11 of the rod 10. Then, the ends ofthe fibers of the bundle 20 exposed out of the ferrule 11 of the rod 10is finished with a finish cutting device 610.

The fixing piece 30 folds the fiber bundle 20 at the middle portion andinserts it into the insertion groove 111 of the ferrule 11 of the rod 10and prevents the bundle 20 from being separated from the ferrule. Tothis end, both sides of the bundle is latched on the inner side of thegroove 111 when inserted in the groove 111.

The fixing piece 30, which is made by cutting steel sheet 430 wound on aroll 420 with steel sheet cutting device 440, is preferably fedautomatically in the forward direction of the pushing piece 510 with afeeder which is not shown.

The fixing piece 30 is formed with a length longer than the transversewith W of the ferrule 11 so that the fixing piece 30 cannot be separatedfrom the ferrule 11 by itself. For this, the fixing piece 30 is formedwith inclined insertion guides 31 on its both side ends.

The insertion guides 31 of the fixing piece 30 facilitates insertioninto the bundle insertion groove 111 and prevents the fiber bundle frombeing separated in reverse direction because the end of the insertionguide 31 is caught in the inner wall of the bundle insertion groove 111when engaged in the groove.

While the fixing piece 30 in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent invention has inclined insertion guides 31 on both side ends,the shape of both ends of the fixing piece 30 is not limited to aninclined surface but also can be a rectangular or flat surface.

In this case, both side ends of the fixing piece 30 is engaged in bothsides of the bundle insertion groove 111 by nearly a force fitting.

In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the fiberbundle 20 is folded by a fixing piece 30 at the middle portion andinserted in the ferrule to be prevented from being separated in reversedirection, the constitution does not limit the scope of the presentinvention, and more preferably, the ferrule is compressed by punching710 so that an inner part of the ferrule 11 is formed inwardly into acompressing protrusion 12 which compresses the fiber bundle 20 toprevent separation. Here, the compressing protrusion 12 can be formed onone or both sides of the ferrule 11 to be engaged in a zigzagarrangement.

The rod 10 in accordance with the present invention is, in normalcondition, coupled with a cosmetics container R containing liquidcosmetics with a container 40 cap formed with screw-threaded couplingguide 41.

As shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, the raw fiber 21 wound on a roll 110 isunwound and fed to a cutting device 210 in the feeding step S100, andthe raw fiber 21 fed to the cutting device 210 is cut with a cuttingblade 220, formed into a bundle of fibers 20 and placed on the guide 410in the raw fiber cutting step S200. In the raw fiber feeding step S100,the roll 110 on which the raw fiber is wound can be provided in a pluralnumber to allow a plurality of raw fibers cut to form fiber bundles 20at a high speed.

In the raw fiber cutting step S200, the diameter and the number of theraw fibers 21 constituting a fiber bundle 20 are preferably between fromabout 0.05 mm to 0.09 mm and from 980 to 1020. If the diameter of theraw fiber is less than 0.05 mm, the elasticity of the fiber bundle 20 isinsufficient and can be deflected when impregnated with cosmetics,causing difficulty in application of cosmetics. On the other hand, ifthe diameter of the raw fiber is greater than 0.09 mm, the elasticity ofthe fiber bundle 20 is sufficient. But the fibers become difficult to becoated with cosmetics and the cosmetics brush cannot apply cosmeticsuniformly over a wide area, that is, loss of adhesive property.

In the rod feeding and fixing step S300, the ferrule 11 of the rod 10 isfed close to the rod fixing portion 310, at the middle portion of theguide 410 on which the bundle 20 of the cut war fibers is placed, andthe fixing piece 30 is fed to the guide 410 in the directioncorresponding with the ferrule 11 of the rod 10, in the fixing piecefeeding step S400. In the rod feeding and fixing step S300, the rod 10is preferably formed at an end in integration with the fiber insertiongroove 111, preferably in a rectangular shape, in an injection moldingprocess.

In the fixing piece feeding step S400, it is more preferable to cut thefixing piece 30 from steel sheet with a cutting device into a pin-shapeformed with inclined, sharp ends on both sides, and the cut ends eachare formed with an inclined insertion guide 31.

In the fixing piece insertion step S500, the fixing piece 30 iscompressed with a pushing piece 510 so that the fixing piece 30 foldsthe middle portion of the fiber bundle 20 and inserts the folded bundleinto the ferrule 11 of the rod 10.

In the fiber finishing step 600, when the pushing piece 510 has returnedto its original position, the tips of the bundle of fibers 20 exposedout from the ferrule 11 of the rod 10 are finish cut with a finishcutting device 610 to obtain a cosmetics brush.

In addition, the method for manufacturing a cosmetic brush A is furthercomprised of a step S700 of compressing the fiber bundle 20, after thefinishing step S600 of the raw fibers, wherein a part of the ferrule 11is formed into a compressing protrusion 12 by punching 710 the ferrule11, so that the compressing protrusion 12 can compress the fiber bundle20 to prevent from being separated from the ferrule. Here, thecompressing protrusion 12 can be formed inwardly on one or both sides ofthe ferrule 11 and can be formed in a plurality.

What is claimed is:
 1. A cosmetics brush for applying cosmetics,comprising: a rod; a ferrule formed at the end of the rod; a bundle offibers folded at the middle and inserted in the ferrule; and a fixingpiece inserted inside of the folding of the fiber bundle with both sidesof the fixing piece engaged with the ferrule by being latched to theinner side of the ferrule.
 2. The cosmetics brush of claim 1, whereinthe ferrule compresses the fiber bundle folded and inserted in theferrule via a compressing protrusion.
 3. The cosmetics brush of claim 1,wherein the rod is engaged with a container cap formed with a couplingguide, and the ferrule is provided with a fiber insertion groove formedfrom an end towards the inside of the rod, and the fiber insertiongroove is formed in a rectangular shape whose transverse width W isgreater than the longitudinal width W′.
 4. The cosmetics brush of claim3, wherein the fixing piece is formed with a length longer than thetransverse with W of the ferrule and with inclined insertion guides atboth of its ends.
 5. A method for manufacturing a cosmetics brush forapplying cosmetics, comprising the steps of: feeding raw fibers unwoundfrom a roll to a cutting device; cutting the raw fibers fed into thecutting device to form the raw fibers into a bundle and place the bundleon a guide; feeding and fixing a rod with a ferrule near the guide atthe middle of the cut raw fibers approaching the rod fixing portion;feeding a fixing piece to the guide on the side corresponding with theferrule of the rod; inserting the fixing piece by compressing the fixingpiece with a pushing member so that the fixing piece folds the bundle ofthe raw fibers at the middle portion and inserts the bundle into theferrule of the rod; and finishing the raw fibers, when the pushingmember has returned to its original position, exposed out of the ferruleon the rod using a finish cutting device.
 6. The method formanufacturing a cosmetics brush of claim 5, further comprising of a stepof compressing the ferrule by pressure punching so that an inner portionof the ferrule is formed into a compressing protrusion which inwardlycompresses the fiber bundle, after the finishing step of the raw fibers.7. The method for manufacturing a cosmetics brush of claim 5, whereinthe step of feeding raw fibers includes employing a plurality of rawfiber rolls.
 8. The method for manufacturing a cosmetics brush of claim5, wherein the step of feeding and fixing the rod is furthercharacterized by the ferrule provided at an end of the rod being formedwith an injection molding process into a rectangular shape.
 9. Themethod for manufacturing a cosmetics brush of claim 5, wherein the stepof feeding the fixing piece is further characterized by the fixing piecebeing cut from a steel sheet into a pin-shape and formed with inclinedinsertion guides at the cut ends.